


oregano + chicken

by rankarana



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Season 2 Era, and also other weirdos who are NOT her goth family., sayo's awkward and happy experiences with recreational weed and her found family of weirdos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 21:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18240146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rankarana/pseuds/rankarana
Summary: Sayo's plan to prove her dedication to Yukina and her coolness to the rest of Roselia goes terribly wrong when she ends up purchasing 10 grams of finest oregano from Lisa's close-friend-who-may-or-may-not-be-more-than-a-friend, and finds herself perhaps overinvested in both actually getting highandher girlfriend's BFF's ambiguous love life.





	oregano + chicken

“This is oregano, babe.”

“What?”

The little pile of green herbs on the table – very unsticky, and unclumped, and in fact looking very much more like something taken directly from the spice selection at Lawson – is currently being scrutinised by Ako and Lisa, and signs do not seem positive.

“She speaks only truth, not lies, Sayo. This is absolutely pure herbage, in the edible sense!”                   

“Oh, edibles? Well, then, I don’t see the issue--“

“Like, literally edible. Actually, I did wanna cook some like, pan-fried chicken soon...”

Sayo had been so proud, so _eager_ to present her findings to Yukina—well, Yukina and the others, only to find out that she had presumably been sold garden-variety cooking spices by the suspicious hooded midget hanging around the back of CiRCLE.

“Your… your girlfriend _tricked_ me!”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” Lisa hisses back, rolling her eyes and looking at Ako for, presumably, emotional support. Ako does not, however, know how to give emotional support. “We just… y’know, get along well. Hang out after work sometimes. We’re not like _that._ Nothing exclusive.”

Sayo, too, cannot give emotional support. This is not new information to anyone in the room.

“Well, _someone_ here should take responsibility.”

“Perhaps… it should be the person who took the dividends of the Roselia Cookie Fund and wasted it on such a poor offering…” Ako suggests, until Sayo stares hard enough at her to shut her up.

(But only because, well, she’s not exactly _wrong._ )

* * *

 

“Wow, Sayo, easy on the… on the yuri knee, there—“ Moca squirms, an annoyingly guiltless guilty little smile on her face.

“You embarrassed me in front of all my frrrie… all my bandmates, you thieving little rat.” Having her currently pinned to the same back wall of CiRCLE that the previous deal had taken place, Sayo realises that on reflection, Moca is actually _not_ that small. Sayo is just tall, and for once, she is extremely thankful for that.

“Hey, you can just admit they’re your friends? Liiiike, you should really try not being a huge dick all the time.”

“And maybe you should stop being a useless little gremlin.”

Moca seems to take notable offence to this. Strange. She seems weirdly docile when Lisa calls her that. Very, very strange.

“Okay, okaaaay. Look. Let’s recount this all honestly and accurately, right? Like, straightforward and shit.”

“Yes. Let’s.”

“You came up to me, after practice, while me and Tomoe were just chillin’, and then you checked Tomoe out and made some weird comment about her strong, well-kept body and powerful form--“

The ‘ _yuri knee’_ rises a little further up, and Moca looks genuinely excited, or flustered, or both. Sayo quickly lowers it back down and leans in closer instead, and… hm. Aoba is a hard one to threaten, it seems like, considering her mouth now hangs open in an excited little ‘oh.’

“…okay, well, anyway, after that, you asked if I had ‘herbs.’”

“Yes.”

“You gave me cash. I gave you herbs.”

“Yes.”

“…ain’t seeing the issue here, Hikawa Jr.”

This _slight_ is the last draw, and Sayo rears back, stares at the heavens, and tries _not_ to let out the loudest possible scream. She just has to retreat to her happy place, where Hina is studying abroad or dead or otherwise indisposed and everyone thinks Sayo provides the ‘dankest kush’, so to speak.

“Why on _earth_ were you carrying around oregano?”

“Uhhhh… I mean… a friend wanted to do some cooking with it? Like. Pan-fried chicken. Goes really well with oregano. Y’know, I gave up on a _delicious_ dinner ‘cause I gave you your fix.”

“Oh. Well, apologies to your _girlfriend_ —“

“Noooot my girlfriend,” Moca growls, and for the first time in this entire conversation she seems legitimately riled up. Her teeth are showing, those lazy eyes are suddenly _very_ sharp, and Moca seems not so, well, _small_ any more. She grabs onto Sayo’s wrist in a way that makes Sayo realise how unused to sudden touch she is – even Hina tries to avoid it – and, in fact, she’s a little… threatening. Powerful. Enthralling. Enough so that after disentangling from Aoba and the wall, Sayo beats a hasty retreat.

* * *

 

“Why are you so, uhm… focused on… um…”

For a member of Afterglow, Tsugumi is very, very shy about saying the w-word. It might be because they’re literally sitting inside her family’s café, yes, but Sayo expected a little more confidence? A little more comfort. Please, Tsugumi, she needs _some_ moral support, beyond the name of a student at Sayo’s school scrawled on a napkin as a potential hookup.

“One could ask the same of your clique.”

“Well, Moca and Tomoe put on some music and start lighting up, and then Ran gets all moody until  Tomoe leans in close and breathes smoke right into Ran’s mouth and then they just stare into each others’ eyes for a bit, and then Himari cries about being left out, and then I think it’d be rude _not_ to join in…”

“Was this the first time this happened, or is it like this… every time?” Sayo has secretly harboured the opinion that, despite everything, Afterglow may be _nerds,_ so to speak. Of course, she doesn’t voice that thought, because then Ako goes on about Geek Pride, and then Lisa asks if Sayo wants to go to _actual_ Pride, and Sayo ends up having a mild anxiety attack.

“Mm… around fifty percent.”

They both stare into their coffee. Sayo notices Tsugumi takes substantially less sugar and milk than she does.

“But, uhm… why are you so hung up on this?”

“No particular reason,” Sayo tells her, lifting her coffee to her mouth, gently burning her lip, and continuing to drink anyway in spite of the slow sensation of choking on fire in her throat. “Well, no, that wouldn’t be true, would it… hm. Can you keep a secret, Tsugumi?”

Tsugumi looks entirely non-plussed, which Sayo assumes mean _‘yes, elder Hikawa, I can.’_

“When Minato gets a little less sober than usual, she says some unexpectedly kind things. I think we’re a little similar in that respect… every time I try to tell her the truth, or express myself honestly, the words that come out are always a lot _colder_ than I would like. Now, wine is one method to achieve this, but the risk there is Ako downs half the bottle herself, seems almost completely sober afterwards, and we’re all left with at best a three-quarter glass each. Minato seems to think excessive spending on wine is both wasteful and curtails our creative process, you see, so I only have one bottle’s worth of chances, and she won’t partake in anything past that.”

Tsugumi seems enthralled, Sayo likes to think. Not that she’s actually looking at Tsugumi’s face, but she’s assuming as much.

“Which means we have to move onto other options. Due to her trust in Lisa, and Lisa’s exceptionally clean habits and skill at tidying up even when completely off her head, she’s fine with cannabis in reasonable amounts. In fact, she’s even said that at times, it enhances her creative process—certainly, we couldn’t have watched enough episodes of Cardfight!! Vanguard to properly compose an opening theme to it without at least some external stimulus. And I felt, if I provided the… materials, so to speak, I might earn a little bit of her praise and admiration, as if she could rely on me, rather than Lisa, for indulging her more secret pasttimes? So, in essence, this is all so I can be a little more honest with her, and perhaps, in return, she can be a little more honest with me, too. I’m aware this is selfish of me, but—“

“Ohhhhh.” Tsugumi seems to be, at the least, thinking things over. “Hehe. You’re just like Tomoe and Ran.”

“We are not like Tomoe and Ran,” Sayo points out.

“A little bit,” Tsugumi responds.

“We are not,” Sayo emphasises.

“Juuust a tiny bit,” Tsugumi giggles.                                                                                              

“No!” Sayo shouts, slamming down on the table.

“Hehe. A bit!” Tsugumi tells her, and all Sayo can do in response is continue to burn the skin off her lip by downing more oversweetened coffee. She searches for literally _anything_ to change the topic, and strikes upon—

“As an aside, is Aoba… seeing anyone?”

“You’re interested in her, too? Are you one of those, um… polypas?”

“No. God, no. No. Absolutely not.”  Perhaps a little, if her life and tastes were substantially different, and she had more of a taste for oregano. “It’s more… general curiousity.”

“I… hmmm… that’s a good question! She’s quite close with Imai…”

“Yes!?” Her response comes out sounding a lot more like an awkward squawk than she expected.

“But… I think they’re just friends?”

“…oh.” Sayo feels underwhelmed; not that that’s anything out of the ordinary.

* * *

 

Misaki seems, more than anything, _exhausted_ when she’s suddenly pulled out of the hallway and into the school council room, immediately muttering something about how she’s not responsible for Kokoro’s actions, and that causality and correlation are separate, and reciting prime numbers, and plenty of things that Sayo’s not sure if she’s meant to hear. Has all that DJing and late-night club appearances begun to destroy her ears? Actually, does Misaki even go to clubs? Is she simply active on that ‘Soundcloud’ thing Lisa keeps on telling jokes about that only Ako gets?  Sayo doesn’t know, but considering it’s Misaki, she feels the girl deserves a little privacy.

She’s by no means a model student, but she hardly causes trouble for the various committees and councils that overlook Hanasakigawa, and in a world where Tsurumaki and Toyama simply _exist,_ Sayo feels a little fond of Misaki on principle.

“Okusawa.”

“Yeah…?” She sounds both terrified and incredibly past caring at once; Sayo feels a little glad at the former, and a little pitying at the latter.

“Do you have any… cannabis, on you?” There’s no use beating around the bush – Sayo is not here to make nice with the, technically, undesirables of the school. She is here to find a dealer.

“U-uh…. Pardon?” Misaki’s shoulders shrink inwards, her weirdly emotive yet soulless eyes surveying the room to check they really _are_ the only two in here, and that there’s no hidden cameras, or such. That’s what Sayo would do in such a situation, of course; not that she’d ever be caught consuming the devil’s leaf.

…she realises Rinko is also, in fact, a guilty party here. What, exactly, does the moral backbone of Hanasakigawa stand for at this point—

“Sayo, uh. N-not on me.” Oh, yes. Misaki.

“Oh. I see. Could you bring some, then?” Is this how one talks to dealers? After the Moca incident, Sayo realises complimenting their muscles might not in fact get her the results she needs.

 “Yeah, I can, just… tomorrow?” Her hands are in her pockets, and she’s still trying to avoid Sayo’s perhaps slightly too intense gaze. “And, um, please. Please, I’m begging you. Don’t tell the teachers, or my mum about this. Uh, things have been kinda hard at home lately, and…”

“Ah, well, I mean—“

“How much do you want?”

“No, I’d…” Sayo had, in fact, meant to pay her for it. Such is the nature of a ‘deal’, considering that Misaki would be a ’dealer’, but… that means not only would be be _consuming_ the THC, but also propagating the industry, which means… well…

Oh, god. Misaki’s frozen up.

“See here, Okusawa. I will give you…” Sayo ruffles around in her pocket, finding the notes she’d saved for her potential train pass recharge on the way home. “3000 yen, and you will go and provide me with as many grams of cannabis as you can. And, uhm. You may keep the change. And I’ll take you for dinner. Do you like, say… chicken?”

“I don’t… uh. Sayo, I don’t like, grow my own or anything.” She seems to have gone from genuinely heartbroken to absolutely baffled, but Sayo presumes Okusawa is used to sudden emotional swings.

“Where do you get your… supply chain, then?” This question also causes the breath to hitch in Misaki’s throat, but this time, she powers through. Sayo respects snitches and their internal courage to break with the norm, personally.

“A girl from Haneoka.”

“…the one going out with, ahem, my bandmate?”

“Oh. Ohhhh. I… think? Wait, are they going out?”

“Yes,” Sayo informs her.

“Mm, that’d make sense, but I don’t think they’re actually like, girlfriends, though?” Misaki has the same kind of thoughtful look as Tsugumi, under the confused fear and equally confused relief currently seizing her.

“No, they are.”

Misaki’s little kowtowing nod is fine as a gesture of affirmation, but once again, Sayo feels unsatisfied and incomplete.

In other words, like herself. 

 

* * *

The night comes, the stash collected from Misaki thoroughly pungent and definitely _not_ oregano (or god forbid, _chives_ ), and Sayo shoves the surprisingly small little bag into a plastic box, in another bag, and then inside another box, and then into one of the rucksacks that was technically once hers but Hina started using it and Sayo never quite managed to get the courage to ask for it back, so if anyone in the household _does_ take issue, the blame can’t possibly fall on her.

Not that it ever would. Sayo is far too morally upstanding for that.

“Doesn’t it feel like you’re defiling your fingers when you do… that?” Sayo asks, watching Rinko roll the paper with expert precision. They’re literally award-winning digits, and to emphasise her point, Sayo reaches down and touches them a little; and in response Rinko briefly vibrates before lowering her head and rolling faster and with even more skill to her delicate little movements.

“Sayo…” Rinko mumbles.

“Yes?”

“C’mon, don’t be a jerk. Roselia’s joints have to be, Yukina voice, pretend I’m doing the Yukina voice… perfect.” Lisa, in essence, verbally rolls her eyes. Yukina, on her throne of old cat-shaped pillows, nods in solemn agreement. Her father doesn’t just seem okay with their little meetups, but almost complicitly approving – as if this is what he’d _want_ from his daughter. Apparently Yukina and Lisa have played around in this little spare room since they were children, so really, what’s even the difference? “And I don’t have the bong, since you were all ‘comrades, tonight we shall blaze up’ like two hours ago. Barely gave me time to make snacks.”

“Oh? Did you perhaps lend it to someone else?”

Lisa fails to respond, too busy looking at Rinko and complimenting her dexterity to have apparently heard, but before Sayo can finish repeating her incisive little remark – “Lisa, I said, does someone--“ – Ako jabs her in the back with something small yet hard.

“Here’s the Pyromancy Flame +5, Sayo!”

“Ah. And a Vanguard booster pack.”

“It’s the ritual! Perhaps, with this most forbidden of traditional homeopathic catalysts, we will finally pull more Kagerou support…” Sayo, in return, nods, takes the lighter, and  otherwise generally mutes out Ako’s rambling, making herself immune to the admittedly considerable appeal of turboing out Grade 3 Dragonic Overlords while instead studying Yukina’s face.

She seems… tired, in a way. Even if Roselia demands perfection, and deserves perfection… it nevertheless takes a great deal from Yukina, and she deserves at least a few moments without practice on her mind.  There’s sheets of manuscript paper in front of her, still, and an old synthesiser (a little dusty from the couple of months since they’d last turned it on) propped up against the wall in case she needs Rinko to quickly tap out a few chords to spur on her imagination.

…of course, she can’t help but feel a little weak for wanting Yukina to take a break. Never mind; Yukina will do as she wills, and Sayo will follow.  When Lisa taps her to take the lighter from her, Sayo passes it off absent-mindedly, and while she’s lost in thought—

“Your turn,” Rinko mumbles up at her, and Sayo takes it.

The smoke fills her lungs quickly, intensely; suppressing a cough or two is nothing for her. (She hates to hear Yukina do so, though.) Sayo closes her eyes, loses herself in the sensation of her head suddenly burning and her heart bursting in double time for a few brief seconds, and then hands it on to—well, Ako. Ako seems almost begging to open the pack of trading cards, after all, and she can’t do that _without_ the heat haze of the addled dragons. She barely takes a half puff, by Sayo’s estimation, before passing it on to Yukina, and fiddling with the foil in her hands.

…Sayo wonders if Tomoe will ever find out about this, and if Tomoe’ll beat her or Yukina up in return. Technically, this _is_ Tomoe’s fault in the first place, however indirectly, so—

“This is… good quality stuff, Sayo. You’ve done well.” The smoke escapes Yukina’s mouth much like the truth, and as Sayo stares down at her almost with tears in her eyes, Yukina gestures up at her.

It is… beckoning to her, like she too is one of Yukina’s cats—

And that is a title she will gladly accept.

“Sayo...” Ako sounds plaintive as Sayo sinks to her knees by Yukina, who smiles at her with a certain contentness. It’s far too soon for the drug to have already taken effect, though – unless somehow Yukina is vulnerable to placebo effects, but that would be _ridiculous,_ so--

“Sayo, there’s noooo Kagerous…”

“I’m not sure if there even are any in that set,” she mumbles, not wanting to look away from Yukina; enough that she misses  Yukina reaching out to Ako for another puff on Rinko’s masterwork, one thoughtful breathe in, and then another, while she stares Sayo in the eyes.

_Enchanting._

There’s silence – between them, at least, she hears Lisa and Rinko agree that some good chicken would be _perfect_ right now – before Yukina raises a brow, like a burst of inspiration has hit her, and she takes one more go, before handing it off vaguely in Ako’s direction. (Ako catches it, Sayo thinks. Assumes. Hopes.)

And then Yukina leans in, lips opening and the hand she suddenly has on Sayo’s chin making her respond in turn, and she breathes out, fire more intense than any dark sun.

It’s not quite a kiss (thank god, because Sayo might honestly die on the spot if it _were_ ) but it’s so, so close; and Sayo feels Yukina’s lips brush against hers as she breathes in so hard it feels like  her lungs are about to pop inside-out. The eyes of the others are definitely upon them, especially Lisa, who has to be giggling.

“Woah. Just like Tomoe and Ra--"

“No,” and Sayo is _very_ clear about this one, even if she does start to feel a quickening of thought and a loosening of morals as _Yukina_ runs through her veins.

“Lisa, come on.” Even Yukina disagrees, although there’s a smile on her face. _Too lenient,_ Sayo thinks, _you need to stop her spending so much time with Afterglow,_ and then wonders if she’s still too sober.

“A little bit?”

“No. Not at all.” But Lisa apparently wants a closer look to prove her point, sauntering closer to them with the joint in hand, a casual puff while she grins. Sayo regrets breaking eye contact enough with Yukina enough to even notice that, and instead lets herself almost _topple,_ pressed into Yukina’s side and cuddling up to her. Even Yukina seems taken aback at first, before resting her arm around Sayo’s shoulder—and suddenly Sayo wonders if there’s something else other than illicit substances making her heart pound.

Being held by Yukina feels, well… as affirming as ever. And it might fill her with slight unearned confidence.

 “…perhaps more like you and Moca?” she offers, nestling into Yukina’s frilly blouse.

“Okay, Sayo, why the fuck are you soooo hung up about this?” Lisa sounds a little angry, probably  aggressively swaying left and right or such. Sayo is enjoying the warmth of Yukina’s armpit too much to look. “It’s weird! Moca told me you went off on her about it!”

“B-because… well…” Sayo gulps, leans further into Yukina (who appears to have completely ejected herself from the conversation, which is fair.), and tries to explain herself in a way that’s not awfully embarrassing.

Which is difficult. “I… I may have a degree of investment in… the relationships of… the people who, if I were to apply common terms to…”

“You can speak from the heart, Sayo. I believe in you.” Yukina’s hand is, quite genuinely, stroking through her hair, drawing Sayo in closer, and, ah. Sayo feels so comfortable, for reasons other than the (admittedly very pleasant, and increasingly so) cat bean bag she’s on top of.

“To the people I may consider… friends, or something along those lines.” She lifts her head away from Yukina, before collapsing right back upon Yukina’s chest.

Lisa looks at Sayo with the most sympathy and affection Sayo thinks she’s ever received, short of from Yukina herself.

“Babe, that’s… that’s so sweet. Sayo. Oh my god. I didn’t know you like… I mean, I know you’re not a _bitch_ bitch any more, but… Sayo… shit. No, seriously, it’s nothing. Me and Moca are like, uhhh, cool? It’s cool between us. Seriously, you don’t have to get worried!”

“You absolutely want her to be your girlfriend, Lisa.”

Yukina’s words are absolute – a thundering decree, a beacon of truth piercing through the insanity. It’s enough to make Ako let out a long, exaggerated gasp; have Rinko pause mid-popping another one of Lisa’s cookies into her mouth; and Lisa herself, well, she bites her lip, like she’s reached a moment of decisive, if somewhat painful, clarity.

“Look… ugh. Whatever,” she offers, before slumping down in a pile by Rinko, the girl offering one of the homemade cookies right back to her.

“Thank you, Minato,” Sayo mumbles, snuggling up to Yukina, knowing that no matter how many times the world denies her, and how many times she may seem insane and beyond saving…

Yukina _gets it._

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! hope you enjoyed, and smoke up in moderation and with friends!
> 
> for those not in the know - Legendary was a Cardfight Vanguard OP (and it works really well!!) and..... look if afterglow have canonically met Philemon Persona then i think it's fair enough to say in-universe Roselia actually did an anime OP. why the fuck not. bushiroad look after their own.
> 
> also play idolmaster shiny colors https://shinycolors.enza.fun/


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